William Kentridge (South African, b.1955)

Art

Who is artist William Kentridge?

William Kentridge is a South African artist, animator, and printmaker who is best known for his animations, which he’s created since the 1980s. Often these animations deal with social and political issues through the autobiographical lens of the artist. Kentridge’s work is renowned the world over, and he’s quickly become one of South Africa’s leading artists. His animations frequently feature two long-running characters Soho Eckstein and Felix Teitlebaum which are meant to represent many of the struggles that South Africans have faced during the apartheid era, and the time immediately preceding it.

Since 2001, Kentridge has widened his artistic palette to include tapestries (which often utilize a palimpsest technique, much like his animation) and large-scale sculptures. He’s won several awards for his animation including the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, the Carnegie Prize, and the Commandeur Des Arts et Des Lettres. His pieces are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary art in Chicago, the Tate in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, amongst others.

What kind of art does William Kentridge make?

William Kentridge is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work can take the form of animation, printmaking, sculpture, large-scale murals, and even tapestries. Kentridge is best known for his animations, which have brought a human face to much of the political and social turmoil that has developed in post-apartheid South Africa. Kentridge’s works often mix autobiography, political activism, and humor. His minimalist style, using only charcoal and blue pastel, has astounded art critics with its simple beauty and surprising depth. Since the early 2000s, Kentridge has vastly expanded the type of art he creates. His 10 meter tall sculpture of a horse, Fire Walker (2009) features prominently in his hometown of Johannesburg. Many of Kentridge’s large-scale public works appear in urban city-scapes in Italy.

How did artist William Kentridge get started?

William Kentridge was born in 1955 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both of his parents were lawyers who primarily represented those marginalized by the apartheid system of South Africa. This influenced Kentridge’s politics from an early age. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in politics and African studies, then followed this with a fine arts degree from Johannesburg Art Foundation. In the early 1980s, he moved to Paris -- eventually studying to be a mime at the famed L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. It wasn’t until the late 1980s, when working on television shows, that he was able to parlay his art skills into his day job. He worked as an art director for several years before moving on to his own animations by the early 1990s.

How much are William Kentridge paintings worth?

William Kentridge is an extremely successful international artist. His pieces can be worth anywhere from around $5,000 for a charcoal and pencil drawing to over a million dollars for major work. The most expensive William Kentridge work to sell at auction is the bronze piece, Procession (2000) which sold for $1,538,500 on March 7th, 2013. This was an astonishing four times more than even the high estimate had suggested. Kentridge’s work is popular with many disparate types of art collectors around the world. No matter the format, Kentridge’s work continues to be buzzworthy and a tribute to his evolution as an artist.

Where to buy William Kentridge paintings for sale?

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How to value William Kentridge paintings?

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